Reasons to Plan Well

Just over the Oconee County line, down Jennings Mill Road, past office parks and housing developments that look more like country clubs, sits the Highland Hills Retirement Community. With open door policies among all the staff, meals in an exquisite dining room, and a list of activities to make any cruise ship participant jealous, Highland Hills prides itself on the quality of life that they can offer their residents.

“Depression is the number one enemy, and we try to fight that by being involved in the lives of the people who choose to live here,” said Beth Guthrie-Johnston, the sales coordinator for Highland Hills. “About 2/3 of the residents only see there families on holidays, so we try to at least stay aware of what is going on in there lives.”

Highland Hills offers both independent living and assisted care to the elderly. As a person ages, their quality of life can fade as routine chores and tasks become more difficult.

“What I tell people is this: you don’t want to find yourself hurt or drastically ill, all of sudden needing to go to a nursing home where you are dependent on so many other people. If you come out of your normal routine into something so drastic, you’re going to be depressed. Come here, or to a place like this, where you can get used to having people take care of you while you take care of yourself and experience a still normal life. We like to help people make the transition,” Guthrie-Johnston said.

Quality of life is expensive though. Highland Hills costs around $2000 a month, buying the resident food and access to medical care, as well as a very attentive and well-trained staff. To live at Highland Hills, a person needs to maintain a certain level of independence and mobility, though staff at the facility admit that have been making certain concessions.

“It’s warm and it feels like home here, probably because they keep treating you like a person when you move in. They remember your name, they look at you when you talk to them,” said Mr. Hughes, a resident.

St. Mary’s bought Highland Hills seven years ago, but until recently had been hands off on running the facility, and this distance allowed Highland Hills to maintain its community atmosphere, Guthrie-Johnston said. Given the recent economic crunch though, St. Mary’s has been looking for ways to cut costs, turning their attention to Highland Hills, even instituting the first price increase in seven years. As the hospital takes a more active role in running the facility, Gutherie-Johnston said that she and other staff worried that the community will slip away and start to feel much more corporate.

Over twenty residents have full-time outside caretakers, or “sitters.” These sitters allow the residents to maintain a certain level of independence, keeping them out of more intensive assisted-living facilities and nursing homes. St. Mary’s though has decided to look more closely at the residents using sitters and may decide to move these residents if they are declared “not independent enough” to live at Highland Hills. Guthrie-Johnston and other staff members have expressed a displeasure with this change in policy, saying that it will leave too many beds open at the facility and disrupt the valuable sense of community they have achieved.

Community seems to be the key concept, casting Highland Hills as a neighborhood made up of late-lifers who will fight and slyly cajole their way into staying. And for good reason: those who can afford it and have planned for it are all very well taken care of.